YCT Condemns Trent McKnight’s Call For More Revenue

Austin, TX—Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) today condemned the call for more revenue made by Trent McKnight, GOP candidate for State Representative in House District 68. Mr. McKnight spoke at a candidate forum in Quanah, TX on June 19th where he claimed public education in Texas has “both a spending and a revenue problem and we need to be able to address both.”

“To say public education needs more revenue while claiming to be a conservative on the campaign trail is talking out of both sides of his mouth,” said Tony McDonald, YCT Senior Vice Chairman. “Texas has increased spending on public education nearly five times more than the rate of enrollment growth plus population and inflation over the past 10 years. But we have yet to see any demonstrable result from that spending. It’s clear to any conservative that throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.”

McKnight is in a runoff against Drew Springer, a financial services manager from Muenster, TX. In addition to YCT, Springer has received the endorsement of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Right to Life, Texas Home School Coalition and Concerned Women for America. McKnight on the other hand has been endorsed by Parent PAC, a public education administrator lobby group funded primarily by Democrats. Parent PAC has given money to liberal challengers to conservative legislators such as Van Taylor, Dan Flynn, and Charles Perry.

“It’s no surprise that Trent McKnight is on the side of throwing more money into a broken system. After all, Mr. McKnight has voted with the party supporting a “Spend More Now. Ask Questions Later.” philosophy his entire life – only switching from being a Democrat to being a Republican in order to run for State Representative,” said YCT State Chairman Jeff Morris. “At least we now have him on record to show voters who the real conservative is in HD 68.”

The video excerpt of Mr. McKnight’s speech can be found at AgendaWise.com.

Young Conservatives of Texas is a non-partisan organization that has promoted conservatism at universities across the Lone Star State for over three decades. The State’s most active political youth organization, YCT is composed of hundreds of members and alumni who participate in the full spectrum of politics. YCT issues the most respected ratings of the Texas legislature and is the only conservative group to have done so without interruption over the past 19 legislative sessions. For more information about YCT, please visit www.YCT.org.